We travel nearly 9000 miles and yet Chicago still finds a way to insinuate its way into our daily lives. This time, though, is different – we actually look forward to going to our university complex.

Taking a few lessons from Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town,” it really is remarkable that we are able to study (and “study”) in such an amazing facility as the University of Chicago Center in Beijing. This is the school’s second international scholastic node after Paris with a new center in Delhi set to open in several years. Located on the 20th floor of the Zhongguancun Culture Plaza building directly adjacent to our dormitories at Renmin University, the UChicago Center in Beijing contains a host of amenities that make it extremely attractive to work in: large, nearly floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding the entire building, a large student area with water and a professional coffee machine, couches galore (much softer than our beds at Renmin), and fast wireless internet that is already “over the Great Firewall of China.” While still getting a few kinks out of the daily operation schedule, the University of Chicago in Beijing is an in an incredibly facility run by a highly capable (with great singing voices!) staff. Especially the more-than-a-receptionist Coco; she rocks.

The University of Chicago Center in Beijing is an amazing site located on the 20th floor of the Culture Plaza building adjacent to Renmin University (where we live). Here, the front desk area with our amazing receptionist Coco.

A 3D map of the UChicago campus in Hyde Park greets visitors upon arrival

The Zen Garden - a nice study (and apparently nap) zone in the corner of the building

The view of Haidain District in NW Beijing from the UChicago Center

This curving wall has portraits and captions about all of the Universitys Nobel Prize Winners

Tables and couches constitute a large study area

The student lounge - with a coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine! Also, a dinosaur discovered by famed UChicago paleontologist Paul Sereno graces the edge of the room.